Question: How do you explain Mark 3:29?
“In [your tract] ‘The God of the Bible’s’ questions and answers I read that ‘…if men worship the Holy Spirit they would worship a god who does not exist.’ However, how do you explain or reconcile what Jesus says in Mark 3:29?”
Florida
Answer:
Thank you for your question. To clarify, the statement of the tract, in context, is warning against worshiping the Holy Spirit as a third individual, apart and separate from God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. Since “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24), when we worship God, we are worshiping a Spirit, but it is not a separate individual apart from God, the Father.
Now, to your question, Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” (Mark 3:28, 29) Some people take this to mean that we can blaspheme against God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, and be forgiven, but that a third person called the Holy Ghost is so highly exalted that if men blaspheme him, they can never be forgiven. To the contrary, Jesus was not talking about a sudden word or action against the Holy Ghost, but a continual rejection of its promptings upon the heart. The blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is when a person has stubbornly ignored the gentle convictions of God’s Spirit so long and persistently that God’s Spirit can no longer reach him. When a man reaches the point where he has blasphemed the Holy Spirit it is not because God has given up on him, but because he has stopped his ears from hearing God’s instruction so long that no matter how hard God tries to reach him, he can no longer hear God’s pleading upon his heart.
The Pharaoh of Moses’ day had reached that point. His heart had been so hardened that He refused to do what the Lord instructed. God said, “Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.” (Psalms 95:8) Once our hearts are hardened against hearing God’s Spirit speak to us, we have committed the “sin unto death” spoken of by John. (See 1 John 5:16)
The Bible says, “Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30) God’s Spirit is what seals us, or prepares us for the day when Christ will come to redeem His people. If we continually reject the only avenue by which God can work in our lives, then there is nothing more that God can do for us. That is why there is no forgiveness for the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Not that God is unwilling to forgive, but that the person who does this is unwilling to be forgiven.
I hope this helps to answer your question.
